Save You
by eskimokisses2
Summary: BRATHAN/BRUCAS Two brothers. One girl.Who will be the one there in the end? Better summary inside. Please R & R!
1. Save You

**Background Info: **This is set in season 1, when Lucas and Brooke are dating. During a party Brooke finds Peyton & Luke together, in a compromising position. Brooke & Lucas had been dating a couple months, and Brooke really fell for him. Peyton is Brooke's best friend but, Brooke is also best friends with Nathan. Nathan has always had a thing for Brooke, that extends beyond their friendship. Nathan and Lucas still hate each other. Haley and Brooke are really good friends, and live together like they did in season 3. Haley and Lucas are best friends. Peyton and Nathan dated casually, but never anything serious, and are still friends.

"**Save You"**

Brooke Davis lounged in her roommate Haley's beat up orange Laz-A-Boy lounger. She would never have allowed Haley to bring it inside the apartment, but Brooke had a weak spot for her roommate. It clashed with everything else in the room, but the comfort factor was good. Plus she could never really say no to Haley without feeling bad. It was kind of ironic that they were such good friends, considering Haley had hated Brooke when she'd first met her. And Brooke had to admit she hadn't really been fond of Haley either. But, she'd proved a much better friend than Peyton had ever been. Brooke was emotionally and physically exhausted, from crying and watching Lifetime all night, until the sun peeked through the blinds. She plunged her spoon into the pint-sized tub of Ben & Jerry's Peanut Butter Chunk her favorite break-up remedy, and forced herself to remember.

The night before had been such a nightmare that part of her still wasn't convinced it ever even happened. She just couldn't believe that two people she thought she knew, could hurt her so deeply. Their betrayal had been so open and so public, leaving her standing there feeling humiliated. They may not have meant for it to happen the way it did, but that didn't make all the hurt go away.

"Haley!" Brooke's raspy voice filled the silent apartment. She was still in her white tank top and pink juicy couture sweats that she'd slept in the night before. Her long auburn hair was tied back in a loose ponytail and her normally made-up face, was completely make-up less. "What are you doing in there?" Brooke got up, placing the half empty carton of ice cream on the cluttered coffee table.

"I swear if you're doing anything kinky on my b-." Brooke stopped midsentence as the doorbell rang, interrupting her. She walked over to the door swinging it open to reveal her best friend, Nathan Scott.

"Natie!" She squealed, running into his arms. He was dressed in his regular workout ensemble, a white t-shirt with black gym shorts. He wrapped his toned arms around her, as she breathed in his scent.

"How are you doing Brooke?" He looked at her with such seriousness that it startled her. His blue eyes locked with hers and she knew he knew.

"Well, I've been eating myself into an ice cream coma ." Brooke pranced over to the coffee table, displaying the numerous cartons of ice cream. "And I've got-."

"_Brooke_." He cut her off, sliding onto one of the metal stools that lined the island in the kitchen. He knew she was trying to act normal, but he knew her almost as good as she knew herself. Damn Lucas for hurting her.

"Nate, I'm fine. I love you for caring, I really do… But, maybe you could call next time before you come. That way you won't have to see me looking like this." Brooke flashed him a smile, slipping onto the stool next to his.

"You look fine Brooke, and you know it." Nathan grinned at her, playing with the fruit sitting in a basket on the counter. "Besides, I was just jogging and happened to run past your apartment. "

"Uh-huh." Brooke smiled, wrapping her legs around his. "So how'd you hear?"

"Word of mouth, I guess. But, I can't say I was surprised." Nathan looked at Brooke, watching for any sort of emotion to flicker across her face. There was none.

"I wish I could say the same. I just thought he was the one, you know Nate?" Brooke glanced up at him, "I know it's stupid. It was just different with him, I've never felt that way with anyone else."

Nathan inwardly cringed. There was no way he was telling her how he really felt now. "Not to change the subject, but there was an ulterior motive for me stopping by."

"Like I didn't already know that."

"I wanted to make sure your still coming to the Raven's party tonight. I have to play and you know I never play as good, when you're not cheering for me."

"Well I guess a Raven's party wouldn't be the same without the Raven's_ hottest _cheerleader there." Brooke grinned.

"So you'll make an appearance." Nathan mused, "Because I wouldn't want to have to hold you responsible for single-handedly messing up the game."

"I'll make an appearance." Brooke agreed.

"Hey…_Nathan_." Haley emerged from the bedroom, a mask of toothpaste covering her face. She was in her hello kitty pajama shorts and a white tank top, her reddish brown hair covered in a white bath towel.

"What's up?" Nathan nodded his head at her. He detangled his legs from Brooke's and picked up his gym bag, "I was just leaving. See you guys at school."

"Bye Nate." Brooke said watching him leave, the apartment door slamming shut behind him.

"I thought we had a no boys before nine rule." Haley grumbled, breaking Brooke's trance. Haley pulled out two bowls, filling them each with Captain Crunch. She dumped half the container of milk into the first bowl, and emptied the rest into second. Then she slid the bowl toward Brooke, spilling half of the bowl over the counter.

"Someone's grouchy. And really, when you think about it that someone should be me. Unless your best friend slept with your boyfriend. Which, considering you don't have a boyfriend, isn't possible. So lay off the attitude."

"Sorry, I guess waking up, walking into the kitchen to find the Raven's seriously hot basketball star in the kitchen, while I'm wearing a toothpaste mask, and Hello Kitty pajamas didn't really help. "

Brooke giggled, as Haley passed her one of the bowls of cereal. "Fine, truce."

"Truce." Haley smiled, dumping sugar into her cereal bowl. "So what was up with that anyways?"

"Nathan? He was just checking up on me."

"Checking you out is more like it."

"Haley! Nathan and I have been friends since we were twelve. He's the only platonic relationship I've ever had with a guy. "

"If you say so." Haley raised her eyebrows. "I mean, I don't play footsie with Luke."

"Insensitive, much?" Brooke said, glaring at her from across the island.

"Sorry. I guess I just woke up in on the wrong side of the bed." Haley pressed the button on the coffee machine, brewing a fresh pot of coffee. "I'm staying out of the whole he-she-you love triangle. Not that I don't think what they did was wrong, because I do. It's just he's my best friend, and you're really important to me Brooke. I really don't want to have to take sides."

"But that doesn't mean you can't hate Peyton with me."

"Coffee, sunshine?" Haley laughed, turning the machine off.

Brooke nodded. "There's no way I'm going to get through this day without my usual caffeine fix. Times two."


	2. You Can't Take It Back

"**You Can't take It Back"**

"Dude, did you hear about Lucas and Peyton?" Tim asked Nathan, the moment he walked into the empty locker room. "I thought he was dating Brooke. Now she's _hot_." Tim smiled, his eyes practically glazing over as if he was in the middle of a daydream.

"Lucas is an ass." Nathan replied, shoving his gym bag in the locker and slamming it shut. Nathan stared straight ahead and pounded his fist against the locker door. Everything is his life seemed to have hit a brick wall, where he was unable to fix any of it. Things from his relentless dad, his parents' bogus marriage, his substandard grades, to his relationship with Brooke.

"Whoa, man…I was just saying." Tim reassured him, backing away towards the door.

"Nah, Tim it's straight. I've just been having some issues with my dad." Nathan told him, sitting down on the locker room bench. "Sometimes it just gets to me."

"Need something to take the edge off? It helps, trust me. In the morning I don't remember a thing." Tim offered, as he pulled a couple bottles of alcohol from his locker.

"I guess." Nathan agreed as Tim passed him a bottle. "But, just one. I have to play tonight, and if I suck my dad will kill me."

"Yeah, just one." Tim granted, taking a sip out of his bottle.

"Do you think Brooke would go for me? I mean, now that she's single?" Tim looked at himself in the mirror. "How could she resist this face?" He mused, making faces in the mirror.

"Tim?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

"Okay, Nate."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Luke!" Haley James sprinted across the courtyard, to where her best friend Lucas Scott was sitting on a picnic bench. "What's up?" She breathed, sliding into the space next to him. She tossed her book bag on the ground, and dug out her lunch.

"Nothing. Besides the fact that I screwed things up majorly with Brooke." Lucas replied, running a hand over his buzzed hair. His light green eyes looked dull and red as they met Haley's.

"Well, that's an understatement." Haley scoffed, biting into her apple. "And I hate to break it to you, but she's done Luke. It's over for her."

"I didn't mean for her to find out like that." Lucas explained, his eyes searching the courtyard. "Peyton didn't either. It was all a huge mistake."

"Does Peyton feel that way?" Haley asked, noticing as Lucas watched Brooke from across the court, his expression softening. She wondered if maybe there was more to their relationship, than she had initially realized. "Luke?" She said, touching his arm.

"Sorry. I gotta go, Hales. I'll see you tonight at the game." He smiled at her encouragingly, slipping his brown book bag over his shoulder.

"Right." Haley returned his smile, wishing she knew what was going on with him. She watched him walk quickly across the campus, in the direction Brooke had went. Haley sat there for a couple of minutes just soaking in all the drama and confusion that was high school. Everything had changed for her, when Lucas had become "popular". Suddenly she had boys asking her out, that she'd never even noticed, let alone had a conversation with. She had become friends with people that had never previously acknowledged her existence, and it was still all a little new to her. All of the emotions, the boys, the love triangles, the backstabbing, the unwritten rules of who you can talk to and who you can't.

"Haley!" Peyton Sawyer exclaimed, quickly running over and sitting down beside Haley. "Hey, I was wondering, if you'd seen Lucas." She asked, tucking a stray ringlet of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Or Brooke." She added her voice dropping.

Haley shook her head, and gave Peyton a fake smile. She'd never really talked to the petite blonde before, something about her had always seemed so artificial. It was like she was always putting on a show for everyone, but when the curtain was closed, what nobody really saw, that was the real her. And Haley wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Okay, well hopefully I'll see you tonight." Peyton got up from the table. "You definitely _can't_ miss the rager Dan Scott's throwing." Peyton said sarcastically picking up her stuff, "Should have known he'd find some way to incorporate basketball into it. If I wasn't required to go, there is no way I'd go. The guy's a complete jackass."

"Agreed. I'm only going to be there because Lucas asked me to. There is no other reason I'd be found anywhere near Dan or his prized castle." Haley admitted, as Peyton laughed.

"Good luck, the first time's the worst." Peyton winked at her as she turned around, the wind blowing her curls back.

"Well, tonight should be fun." Haley muttered, to herself. Brooke, Peyton, Lucas all at the same party. Not something that she'd like to witness, but it didn't look like she had all that much of a choice.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Brooke!" Lucas Scott yelled as he ran up behind the brunette, grabbing her arm. He let go as she faced him, a glare already on her face.

"Don't you dare touch me!" She shouted, as his eyes searched hers. She started to walk away, but suddenly turned around and walked up to him, a gleam in her dark green eyes."Oh and by the way, in case you got us confused again, I think I saw my former-best-friend A.K.A. your new girlfriend back there. You know the one you really want." She linked arms with the dirty blonde haired girl standing silent, next to her. "Come on, Bev."

"Why are you mad at him, again?" Bevin asked, looking back at Lucas.

"Did you dye your hair again?" Brooke snapped, slightly pushing the blonde away from her. It was a little well known fact that every time Bevin dyed her hair, she acted more ditzy than usual. Well at least Brooke thought she did, Bevin didn't really get the joke.

"How'd you know?" Bevin wondered, as she adjusted her Versace sunglasses that were perched on top of her head.

"Brooke! Come on, can we at least talk?" Lucas exclaimed, from behind her throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm sorry, okay? What do you want from me?"

Brooke turned around and met his persistent gaze. "What I want from you? I wanted you to want _me_. To _mean_ it when you told me you loved me. I wanted to trust you when you told me there was nothing between you and Peyton, and _I did_. I trusted you, and you stabbed _me _in the back. " Brooke stepped back, running a shaking hand through her hair. She could feel her eyes welling up, and she held back the tears threatening to escape. "_Now_, I want _nothing_ from you."

Brooke glared at him, grabbing Bevin's arm, and practically dragging her inside the school. Brooke fought the urge to look back, instead she tried to straighten her already straight Chloe' dark blue camisole tank top.

"Bathroom detour?" Bevin asked, meeting Brooke's eyes. Brooke nodded glad that Bevin was there in spite of everything. "It's okay, I'm the queen of break-up's. You're in well-educated hands."

"Thanks, Bevin." Brooke cried, laughing at the same time. She wrapped her arms around Bevin, as they walked into the bathroom, and she still clung to her as she sobbed through her lunch period in the Girl's bathroom stall.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you to all who review! It means a lot to me.


End file.
